Rare ZiL 114 State Limousine Heads to Auction

The limousines of 20th-century heads of state don't come up for auction all that often, as such cars tend to be displayed in museums or still belong to government garages. A few are certainly in private collections, usually the kind that have their own buildings and a technician on staff, making rare appearances at concours events.

In a few weeks, however, collectors will have the chance to bid on a very rare state limousine when Artcurial offers a 1967 ZiL 114 at its Retromobile 2022 auction.

Haven't seen one of these? The ZiL 114, produced by Zavod Imeni Likhacheva, or the Likhachev Car Factory in Moscow, was built from 1967 through 1978, picking up the baton from the aging ZiL 111 limousines of the 1950s. The six-seat 114 limousine adopted more conservative lines compared to its predecessors, as well as a seven-seat layout with two jump seats that folded into the B-pillar partition when not in use. A 7.0-liter V8 engine sat underhood, good for about 300 hp and paired with two- or three-speed automatic transmissions, depending on year.

The long limousine—it set at least a couple of records for size alone back in the day—was handmade in small numbers as were its predecessors, with the ZiL plant producing merely dozens of these cars each year. Even the body panels were not stamped but rather hammered by panel beaters on wooden bucks, so the process was both painstaking and time consuming.

The main customer of these cars was GON—Garazh Osobogo Naznacheniya, or Special Purpose Garage—that served the Soviet leadership, with relatively few top-ranking officials receiving ZiL limousines. At the time these were new, just the top tier leadership received ZiL 114 limousines—General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and other members of the Politburo among them—along with heads of the 15 Soviet republics and a number of other political leaders, with lower-ranking officials using GAZ 12 ZiMs, GAZ 13 Chaikas, and GAZ 24 Volgas. As production numbers were so low, most of these limousines were serviced by government garages, and were guarded at all times. The 114 remained in use will past the end of production in the late 1970s, but adopted a secondary role after the 115 family of limousines arrived in the late 1970s, with Brezhnev and other top leadership figures switching over to the next-gen model. The 114 also spawned the shorter 117 sedan, just around 50 of which were produced along with a tiny number of 117 cabrios, as well as a number of ambulance versions.

When it comes to this model, around 113 examples were produced in a little over a decade.

The car that Artcurial will offer in March is an early 1967 model, and is said to have belonged to "President of the Republic of Mongolia," according to the auction house. The ZiL had been in the Museum of the Heads of State Cars until 2004, and is reported to have worn the license plate УБ0001, which denotes the capital Ulaanbaatar.

If the provenance is genuine, this could make it one of the few ZiL 114s that were gifted by the Soviet leadership to foreign leaders, in this case Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, who was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Mongolia from 1952 through 1974, holding the office of chairman of the Presidium of the People's Great Khural from 1974 until 1984. Prior to assuming the office of Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Tsedenbal was the general secretary of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, holding that office from 1940 until 1954, and then from 1958 through 1984.

The auction description says that the car was used by the "President" of the country, which was not Tsendebal's formal title at any point, but it seems clear that the ZiL with such a plate could have been used by Tsedenbal in that time frame.

Despite these differing titles, Tsedenbal was effectively the head of state from the late 1950s through the early 1980s, when illness forced him to move to Moscow for medical treatment. His rule overlapped with the entire Brezhnev era, actually eclipsing Brezhnev's time at the helm, during which relations between the USSR and Mongolia were also at their closest. Tsedenbal died in Moscow in the spring of 1991.

It is believed that there were at least two ZiL 114s in the government garage in the capital of Ulaanbaatar during those years, as two are visible in some period footage during state visits. During those decades Mongolia had very close relations with the Soviet Union, and the vast majority of cars in the country were Soviet as well, with government leaders using various sedans and limousines produced by ZiS, GAZ and ZiL.

It's quite likely that Tsedenbal had at least two ZiL 114s that he used interchangeably, in addition to other cars like older GAZ 13 Chaikas, which were perhaps the most numerous among V8-engined Soviet cars in Ulaanbaatar during those years. As with other various cars of heads of state, there was never really just one copy of anything, and leaders tended to use a great variety of other vehicles as well. So the ZiL could have been one of the more formal cars rolled out during special events and state visits while the top leadership, including Tsedenbal, used more modest sedans on a daily basis.

The auction house reports that this ZiL has received a repaint at some point, which is not uncommon with cars this age, with sills showing the beginnings of some corrosion as well.

"The opulent interior, draped in fabric for the rear compartment and leather for the driver's area, is in good condition. At the rear, space and equipment are generous and truly worthy of a head of state, while the pennant holders on the front fenders immediately suggest official parades," the auction house adds.

The car is said to have been in running condition in 2004 when it was purchased from the museum, but has not run in about 15 years after its gearbox developed some kind of issue and may have become inoperable. As such, the car will require recommissioning work.

The auction house estimates this ZiL to bring between €40,000 and €60,000, or between $46,000 and $67,700.

The market for ZiL limos, as you've guessed by now, exists largely in eastern Europe, with a number of workshops specializing in restoring and servicing former government vehicles. The estimate range for this ZiL is fairly realistic and perhaps a bit light, so we wouldn't be surprised to see it find its way back to Moscow where there is a collector market for ZiL limousines.

Even so, there are a handful of ZiL limousines in the states including a 41045 from the mid-1980s which appeared at Greenwich Concours in 2015, and an early 4104 (also part of the 115 family, which followed the 114) on the west coast.

Visit the auction website to view the full list of lots from the upcoming Retromobile sale in Paris.